What did you can (freeze, dehydrate, preserve) today?

[Tutter]

What a great idea, Blurose! Do you cook the apples with water, spice and then thickener in a saucepan?

I froze a case of dates, that someone brought me, today, by quart and gallon bags. I try to handle them carefully, then I lay them carefully in flat, single layers. It took awhile, but it feels good to have them in.

 

[ninjapoodles]

I made jelly from the hulls of purple hull peas today!

I know this forum is full of people like me who can't stand to waste anything, so I figured I'd share what I just learned. If I'm the last person in the world to know this, then just humor me.

When I was looking for recipes for things to make with the peas besides Hoppin' John, I kept stumbling across references to this jelly, and that it tastes like grape jelly! Well, I had to try it.

Verdict: Well, it DOES taste like grape jelly! Kind of. I mean, the flavor isn't nearly as intense as if you'd used actual grapes, but then, you're not using real juice to start with. You're boiling the "essence" out of the hulls (like making tea, kinda), and then using that liquid (strained) as your "juice." I added a little lemon juice, then just the sugar and pectin.

When it was done, I had my husband taste it, and he said, "That's good!" I asked him what flavor he thought it was, and he tasted again, thought about it, and said, "Grape?" Success!

So, anyway, here's a use for something you might normally throw out on the compost heap. I pretty much packed a pot full of the hulls, then covered them with water and boiled. The recipe I used called for 4 cups of the hull "tea," 5 cups of sugar, a box of Sure-Jell, and a couple tablespoons of lemon juice (I used closer to 3).

 

[blurose]

Tutter, what you do to make apple pie filling in a jar is to cold pack your apples into sterilized jars, pour over the thickened cinnamon syrup, seal and process the jars. I got the recipe at: http://www. thatsmyhome.com. That has got to be my favorite website of all time.

 

[simple life]

Today I canned
bread n butter pickles
lemon pickles
bruschetta
mixed berry jam

I dehydrated a bunch of plum tomatoes and blueberries.

 

[punkin]

I froze 4 16 oz. containers of chili sauce and dehydrated cherries, apples, papaya, strawberries and mangos.

 

[Tutter]

Thank you, Blurose!

With my trees, this sounds like just what I should be making as gifts. What a great idea!

I'll definitely head on over to that site. Thanks again!

 

[ninjapoodles]

I don't know how you people preserve multiple foods in one day! You're amazing. I just baked a French boule and made watermelon-rind pickles (FarmerKitty on BYC's recipe) today, and I'm ready to go to bed. At 5:45PM!

Those watermelon rind pickles are AWESOME, though!

 

[blurose]

I put up 4 little jars of low-sugar strawberry jelly with the juice I'd poured off of my strawberries that I ended up making no sugar strawberry jam with. I also canned 3 qts. of peach pie filling in a jar with some peaches I've had in the freezer. It is the first time I've done this with peaches. Tomorrow I'm going to make my usual whole cranberry sauce and can it as well. I also made a loaf of sourdough bread and a loaf of white bread, but the bread and slicing machines really did all of the work there. I did a little organizing of my pantry shelves and removed most of my empty canning jars to a tote. Whilst doing this I discovered some really antique jars. I got them from my mom and she'd gotten them from her mom and grandmother. Most of my canning jars are old Kerr jars, are from my mom and are 40+ years old. Among these I found four "Atlas" qt. jars and a pint, a Jeannette Home Packer qt. jar, two Bernardin qt. jars, a "Presto" jar and a Ball qt. jar with totally smooth sides. I'm going to use these jars to hold pantry shelf staples, i.e. baking soda, dry beans, coconut, raisins, salt, etc., and never can with them.

 

[nccountrygirl]

Today I froze 8 quarts of speckled butter beans and 8 quarts of peaches, 1 gallon of whole bell peppers.

 

[mirime]

5 pints of dill pickles. I only had one pint left as my son and husband are eating them all up!

If I could have found more pickling cukes at the roadside market, I would have bought 'em...as it was, it was hard to find these few!